


show me the stars

by niallszayn



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 06:19:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9422246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niallszayn/pseuds/niallszayn
Summary: all niall wanted to see was the supermoon. he ends up finding something much more interesting





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flares](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flares/gifts).



> katelyn!!! it's not even funny how late this is, i started writing it on november 13th which was already riiculously late and then abandoned it until now, so - sorry for that! this is a very very late birthday present and not even half as much or good as i wanted it to be and hopefully someday you'll get the fic you deserve, but i hope you enjoy this little thing in the meantime :) :*

November 14 th is a grey day in London, not even rainy – just grey. All day long, Niall keeps glancing skywards worriedly, wishing for the clouds to disappear or at the very least lighten up. He does it until it gets dark, and even still when they get on the tube to take the Northern Line out to Morden.

“I’m only doing this because it’s sure to be a party out there,” Louis gripes, clinging onto a handle in the wagon they’re in. “Half London is heading to Morden Hall Park to take a picture of the damn moon.”

“It won’t be this close to the earth until 2034!” Niall defends himself. “You didn’t have to come if you didn’t want to.”

“We’re your friends, Niall, of course we’re coming with you,” Harry says, patting Niall’s hip. They’re standing very close in the crowded carriage.

“Louis doesn’t mean it that way,” Liam adds with a warning glance at Louis, and he’s probably right. He rarely means the mean things he says and is actually a really nice person if he's not pretending otherwise. 

When they arrive at the last stop and get off the train with the aforementioned half London, the stars are sparkling in the sky and the moon is already visible big and yellowish through the trees, and Niall mentally fist pumps because the sky managed to clear up just in time. 

It's a five minute walk to Morden Hall Park that takes them ten tonight because of the crowds, but eventually they make it to the park. It's ridiculously packed and Niall sees Harry reach for Liam’s sleeve and hold on. The moon looks pretty spectacular already, and Niall has trouble keeping his eyes off the huge bright round. He's already regretting not investing in a camera that could actually capture this beauty, fully aware that his phone is gonna show the moon as a blurry regular sized blob in the sky. Ugh. 

That he hasn't heard his friends in a few minutes doesn't occur to Niall until he spots an opening in the crowd that he thinks is perfect for them to stop and properly look and no one is following him. 

“Fuck,” he mutters and spins around, almost tripping over a tripod that someone has put up, a real fancy one with a camera on top that will probably take amazing pictures of the night sky. 

“Whoa, careful there, mate,” someone says and Niall turns towards the voice to apologise. It's a guy, and that one look is all it takes for the moon not to be the most interesting thing in this park anymore. He's  _ beautiful _ , and Niall swallows dryly. 

“Sorry,” he says, “I'm really sorry. Did I ruin anything?”

“Nah, don't worry,” the guy says with a shrug and a half smile that's disconcertingly attractive. “The night is young and I can take hundreds of pictures.”

“Phew, that's a relief,” Niall with a grin and frantically tries to find something to prolong this conversation. “I was just thinking about how I should've invested in a camera like yours, my phone isn't gonna do the beauty up there any justice.”

“I promise I wouldn't have invested in this baby if it wasn't my job,” the man says. He can't be much older than Niall, he’s wearing a leather jacket, his eyes honestly sparkle more than the stars and it's not fair. “I'm a photographer.”

“That's so cool,” Niall breathes. “But...are you here for the photo opportunity, not the spectacle then?”

“That sounds like you're a space fan,” he chuckles. “I mean, I would've taken a look anyway but I don't think I would've come out here if it weren't for the photos, to be completely honest. Please don't kill me.”

Niall laughs. “Nah, that's fine. I had to physically drag my friends here.”

He gets scrunched eyebrows and a cursory look around for that. “Doesn't seem like you did a good job, huh?”

Niall blushes and laughs again. “Oh my god. I lost them in the crowd, but I swear I brought them.”

“Hmm,” the guy teases. “I probably shouldn't trust a stranger. You could plan god knows what.”

“I'm Niall,” Niall introduces himself, not a stranger anymore. Sort of. “And I swear I have no untoward intentions.”

“That sounds like something someone with “untoward intentions” would say. I can't believe you just said that and I'm still giving you my name. I'm Zayn.”

“To be honest, I'm surprised you're still talking to me,” Niall says, and it's mostly teasing but also...not. This guy, Zayn, he could get anyone and anything without having to listen to whatever comes out of Niall’s mouth when he's nervous. “I haven't left a very good impression so far.”

Zayn laughs and Niall has the urge to look away, it's so stunning. “You're fine, don't worry. Apparently I find clumsiness and an obsession with the moon charming. You're not a werewolf, are you?”

“What?” Niall makes, brain unable to compute Zayn's use of the word “charming”. “Uh...no? If I were, I think I would've already turned tonight, wouldn't I?”

“Oh, true,” Zayn shrugs. “Makes life a lot easier, I reckon.”

Niall looks at him for a moment, stunned, and then he starts laughing. So hard in fact that he doubles over and almost misses out on how Zayn starts to laugh along until the people around them roll their eyes and whisper about them. 

“Oh my god,” Niall gasps, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. “What even is this conversation? I swear I'm not usually like this, I can actually have a regular conversation.”

“Yeah?” Zayn grins and then ruffles his (perfect, very soft looking) dark hair and looks at the ground for a moment, kicking at the ground once with his combat boots. His legs are also quite the sight, Niall notices when he follows his gaze. He needs to figure out a way to charm Zayn until the end of the night. Or however long he wants to stay here for. “So, um...if you want, would you...like, would you like to show me those conversations skills over dinner sometime? Maybe?”

Once again, Niall can't reply for a moment - he can't have charmed Zayn with this already? He's done nothing but embarrass himself - and then says, stupidly, “I don't think that'd work”, and watches Zayn’s face fall. 

“Oh...sorry - I thought…”

“No, no, Zayn, shut up for a second,” Niall blurts out, then closes his eyes for a second in agony - please, can he just for once say the right thing - before he looks back at Zayn, who's very intensely staring at something just left of Niall. “I didn't mean...sorry, I'm all messed up in my head - because, you know, you're you and you're so bloody gorgeous I can't get out a single decent sentence around you, and I just meant that wouldn't change if we went out on a date, a date! I can't believe you'd wanna go out with me, but obviously I would love to…!”

Zayn’s looking at him again, all sparkling eyes and smiles, and wraps his fingers around Niall’s wrist, effectively shutting him up immediately.

“Niall,” he says, “calm down, yeah? I'm just as nervous because I happen to think you're bloody gorgeous yourself. I'm nothing special but I do wanna take you out on a date.”

Niall bites the inside of his cheek, trying to keep his embarrassing grin at a minimum. Tonight has already turned out completely different from what he expected. “Don't think I agree you're nothing special, but alright, that did make me feel better.”

Zayn lets go and smiles at Niall, makes him want to pull Zayn right back in. “Great, so I can give you my number and then you tell me about how you lost your friends or about the moon, or whatever else you wanna talk about. And if you want, I'll even send you the pictures I'm taking tonight if you help me figure out what's important to capture.”

Niall tries to ignore his racing heart and grins brightly, unsure of how he got here. Zayn shouldn’t be wanting to go on a date with him but he’s gonna try his damndest to keep him interested, that’s for sure. “How about all of that?”

Zayn smiles back. “That sounds perfect.”

“So,” Niall starts and takes a step closer until their shoulders touch and their knuckles brush. Time to up the flirting, and the teasing. “Maybe we should start with me explaining what’s up there, huh?”

So maybe Niall ends up forgetting all about his friends and his phone - as soon as he's saved Zayn's number in it, that is - and maybe he wakes up to a whole lot of worried and angry texts from Louis, Liam and Harry, but he does so with the memory of a progressively comfortable night and conversation with Zayn, and the best good night kiss he's ever gotten. Worth it.


End file.
